Davis Polk is advising Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA in connection with the combination with Pearson plc of their trade-book publishing companies, Random House and Penguin Group, respectively. Bertelsmann will own 53% and Pearson will own 47% of the combined company, which will be named Penguin Random House. The closing of the transaction is scheduled to take place in the second half of 2013, following regulatory approval.
Tags: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP | New YorkDavis Polk is advising Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and Goldman Sachs Bank USA as lead arrangers in connection with a commitment to provide a $500 million senior secured facility for Riverbed Technology, Inc. The facility would be available to Riverbed to finance its purchase of OPNET Technologies, Inc.
Tags: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP | New York
A team of European and U.S. lawyers from global law firm K&L Gates LLP is advising OYSTAR Holding GmbH on the sale of its shares in OYSTAR North America Inc., with factories in Davenport, Iowa, and Covington, Kentucky, to the Italian Coesia Group. Packaging machines company OYSTAR is a portfolio company of Berlin-based financial investor Odewald & Compagnie, and was acquired by Odewald from IWKA in 2007. The current transaction took place in the run-up to an international auction and is subject to antitrust approvals.
Tags: K&L Gates LLP
Herbert Smith Freehills has advised UBS AG, China International Capital Corporation, J.P. Morgan Securities (Asia Pacific) Limited, Deutsche Bank AG, Agricultural Bank of China International and Haitong International as underwriters on the HK$3.97 billion (US$509 million) initial public offering (IPO) of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd (“Fosun Pharma”) on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Rule 144A/Regulation S global offering on 30 October, 2012. The deal marks one of the largest IPOs in the world’s pharmaceutical industry since June 2011 and one of the few recent significant new listings in Hong Kong since July this year.
Tags: Herbert Smith Freehills LLP | Hong Kong
Bayer HealthCare LLC has signed a merger agreement to acquire Schiff Nutrition International, Inc., a leading company offering vitamins and nutritional supplements in the United States and other countries, for approximately $1.2 billion.
Tags: Latham & Watkins LLP | Los AngelesThe Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction valued at $4.05 billion. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
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Veteran healthcare attorney Tracy Field, together with attorney Deonys de Cárdenas, has joined Womble Carlyle’s Healthcare Industry Team in Atlanta.
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Shearman & Sterling represented Nokia on its €750 million convertible bond offering which closed on 26 October 2012. The senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2017 are convertible into ordinary shares of Nokia Corporation.
Tags: Shearman & Sterling LLPShearman & Sterling has advised Italian-headquartered Coesia S.p.A, an industrial machinery and processes company, on its agreement to acquire Oystar North America, Inc. from Oystar International GmbH (a company controlled by German private equity fund, Odewold & Compagnie). The acquisition is subject to customary antitrust approvals.
Tags: Shearman & Sterling LLP | New York
CMS has advised RWE in relation to the sale of Horizon Nuclear Power for £696 million. Horizon Nuclear Power is a UK energy company created to develop a new generation of nuclear power stations. It was formed as a joint venture by E.ON and RWE in 2009, but in March 2012, following a strategic review, the companies announced they would not proceed and would instead look to find a new owner.
Tags: CMS